Overachieving Cardinals second at state CC

Medical Lake High head cross country coach Gene Blankenship had been boldly boastful the past two seasons, successfully predicting his teams would do well in November at the state championships.

This year he had to temper his prognostications a little, having graduated over two dozen seniors, among them Domenic Rehm, Micah Dingfield and Noah Kroeze, all top finishers as the Cardinals repeated winning in 2014 the State 1A boy's championship they first captured in 2013.

Despite the hits, "I think our boys' varsity team is pretty good, still," Blankenship said in an earlier interview. "I think we'll probably finish second in the league."

That prediction, made in early September of 2015, was incorrect. Blankenship's Cardinals ended up third in the Northeast A League, but they would peak when it mattered and record a runner-up finish at the state championships Nov. 7 at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.

Deer Park won the team title, topping Medical Lake 62-94 and led a three-way sweep by Northeast A League teams as Lakeside was third with 126 points.

Blankenship said this team surprised him, "A little bit," because going in he pictured a finish anywhere from first to fifth.

The difference between fifth and second - or even winning - he said was because "We just ran better (runners) one through five, except for Deer Park. Actually, they put six guys ahead of our fourth."

"Deer Park was just too strong on the day, that's all there was to it," Blankenship said. "They've beat us every time we've run against them."

Medical Lake got a sixth place from sophomore Mason Williams who turned in time of 16 minutes, 24 seconds for the 5,000-meter course. Tibebu Proctor and brother Tamire Proctor from Northwest High School finished 1-2 in respective times of 15:32 and 15:44.

Cardinal senior Jacob Dingfield was 13th in a time of 16:40. Sophomore Brandon McCoy had a personal record for 5,000 meters in a time of 17:22.

Had Riverside made it as a team Blankenship said it was likely the league would have nabbed the top four spots.

Qualifying a team for state was the crucial factor in the Cardinals' Pasco finish. That happened Oct. 29 in the District 7 championships at the Chewelah Golf Course where Medical Lake finished second to Deer Park, 41-60 and just ahead of Lakeside with 63 points.

Ben Shaw of Riverside was the individual champion finishing the 5,000-meter course in a time of 16 minutes, 5 seconds. Deer Park's Cody Bollum trailed in second, 5 seconds back while the Cardinals got a 1-2 finish from Williams (16:17) and Dingfield (16:25) who were third and fourth respectively.

The Cardinals' 3-4-5 guys played the unsung heroes' role at Chewelah, Blankenship said. "Their performance at districts was the key for us defeating Lakeside," he said. Those runners and times were: Tyler Pena (15, 17:23), Brandon McCoy (18, 17:36) and Evan Peterson (20, 17:37).

On the girl's side junior Mariah Pena finished 20th in a time of 20:18 and was the lone Cardinal participant.

The string of success Blankenship has crafted in cross country, followed a runner-up in the 1A track championships last May at Eastern Washington University where Rehm won the individual title in both the 1,600 and 800 meter events. The Cardinals were the defending team champions.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].